Zach
Half-Off Ragnarok is the third in Seanan's newer InCryptid series. The main characters of InCryptid are the Price family (Verity Price in the first two, Alexander Price in Half-Off Ragnarok), a family of cryptozoologists who actually know what they're doing. In this case “cryptozoologist” actually means “people what study and work with species that humankind likes to pretend don't exist”. Alexander is a reptile specialist, which means HOR mostly deals with weird reptile monsters, like gorgons, basilisks and wadjets (which are sort of like cobras, only not). While doing boring zoology things, someone turns up murdered and, as happens in these sorts of books, it ties right into Alexander's work specialty. It was a cheesy, fun romp although it's definitely not one of the more inspired plots I've seen from this writer. If you like Harry Dresden, Seanan's stuff might be to your taste– she has a very similar self-deprecating humor, although the InCryptid series tends to be a little more cheerful and open about the crazy shit going on.
I've read plenty of short story collection about women, problems, and women's problems. This was just very samey stories. Little variant in race, class, setting, or even any really interesting metaphors and concepts
Anthologies are always a bit uneven but despite some extremely disparate interpretations of the theme almost all the stories hit their mark.
A bog-standard gritty “fairytale retelling” that has very little to do with the actual fairytale, and relies heavily on the ableist Alice In Wonderland mental institution which is SEALING YOUR MAGIC WITH BRAIN DRUGS. Also every male character introduced has the hots for Snow and ugh.
DNF
Where the book focuses on the house and its history it does fine. I was invested enough in the concept that I made it over a third of the way through. But he needs to work harder on character conception— none of these characters are well-developed enough or given the respect they're due.
The racist treatment of Kate (and in particular Moore's interactions with her were deeply uncomfortable), the ableist treatment of Rebecca Finch (we get it, people with disabilities are scary), the fatphobia inherent in the treatment of Slaughter (and the weirdly aggressive anti-religion aspect to that treatment) combined with a clunky concept, a horrifically dichotomous idea of horror (none of the author's seem to be able to think of horror as anything besides “what loving god would do this?”) drove me batty.
Not to mention the fact that none of the horror authors— or human beings— I know or have interacted with act anything like these.
All in all it just made me want to finish the Mabel podcast and go read Jeff Vandermeer or Victor Lavalle again. Meh.
My god, the prose was dreary dull. A fatal flaw in a gothic horror about immortal lesbian vampire poets. I could not bring myself to care, it felt like B movie dialogue at best.
I'm just going to quote from the book and let the rest of you figure out why the book left me with a bad taste in my mouth:
“nuJuism is the religion practiced by the Demi-Monde's Sectorless nuJu community. nuJuism is an unrelentingly pessimistic religion which teaches that suffering and hardship is life-affirming and necessary to prepare nuJus for the rigors to be experienced during the Time of Tribulation (a.k.a. the End of Days). It is a central tenet of nuJuism that there will arise a Messiah who will lead the nuJu people safely through Tribulation and to the Promised Land. As with everything to do with the nuJus this is, of course, pernicious nonsense.”
All the characters were cardboard cutouts, the pacing and plot was shot to hell, descriptions of characters bordered on racist caricature at times, and the women were all rape-traumatized or whoreswhoreswhores.
DNF
DNF
Let me quote:
Knight Ryan Foxheart. Soon to be Knight Commander Ryan Foxheart. The dreamiest dream to have ever been dreamed. The current holder of all my masturbatory fantasies. (“Oh, who's a bad knight? You're a bad knight. You've been so bad that I'm going to joust with your butthole.”)
The gender politics in this book were pants-shittingly terrible. The pacing the was shit. The plot was dull. The world building was boring and shallow.
But basically, if the gender politics weren't so hideous, binarist and transphobic I could have handled it. Seriously, y'all if you want the main character to angst about ~wanting to be a woman~ just make her a trans woman and get the fuck over your gender essentialist bullshit.
Holy shit, I have no idea why so many people like this book. I gave up a quarter of the way through because it was creepy and fetishizing.
Like, great all the characters are mixed race, but after the fiftieth repetition of the super fetishizing reification of race (the Spanish king had exotic eyes because his grandmother was Chinese! This character has “deep Indian skin”! This other one was a Chinese but had just enough African blood that her hair was curly) I wanted to scream.
But the fucking last straw was the bullshit with Dominic and how he's so clearly female bodied but he's such a ~manly man~ and that means being creepy and touching other people without consent! And then the narrator gets all “he's so manly don't you want to know if he's wearing a strap-on, isn't this so taboo and exciting?!” No, the character is rapey and you're a fetishizing asshole.
Grosssssssss
The prose is just so dull and textbook-dry. This could have been a lively read about gay gossip, or a thoughtful piece about the complexities of queer political struggles, but it never manages to find a hook for the narrative to hang on
DNF because I got spoilers that deeply triggered me
The borough who “betrays” them is an abuse victim and I'm really not good with... that
DNF
Three strikes and you're out— combining the blood quantum focus on “true Tufa” as an ethnoreligious group, the imperialist chauvinism/glossing over racism, and the easy threats of murder of “the wrong sort” and I'm just... done.